2018-06-18

public-talk slides

I traveled to Oxford today for #wetton18. As part of this meeting, I am giving a public talk in Oxford. I spent the time on the plane I should have spent sleeping making slides. I think the hard thing about a public talk is always level; there is always a diverse audience with very different interests and backgrounds. The talk I made—about finding planets—requires some sophisticated reasoning to make sense. I fear that I have bitten off too much.

One thing I will definitely put into the talk is some material about the limitations of our knowledge in astrophysics. It comes from the point that many things can't be independently confirmed, especially when they are at the limits of our observing capabilities. It is a bit hard to present this without sounding like we don't believe anything. That's a challenge.